The Studio

The time my band and I went to a recording studio. We had been working persistently to get to this recording level for over a year. Through all the weeks, days, and hours, all the blood, sweat, and tears. We finally made it to a professional recording studio, yet it did not go as expected.
About a month before we even set our recording date, we practiced, argued, fought like kids throwing tantrums at the store, and in the end finally came to our agreement of the three songs we would record in our time. It was also in this time that Max, our guitarist, and I wrote a new song titled “Hidden” we fought over the title as well. Tensions were running high, yet we would still practice and love every minute as we played our instruments in sync. As we finally agreed on the songs, we did an acoustic practice session at Guitar Center for a change in setting and to practice our new track. The feel of the humidity and the look of the stained wood guitars on the wall as we walked in the room, we were home. Picking out an acoustic bass and beginning to play, we knew that the band was finally ready to get started on this album.
A few days after the guys and I practiced at Guitar Center, we all met at Max’s house to agree on the order of our album. I brought my bass guitar, Max had his guitar, Rhett our drummer and vocalist just sang since we didn’t have the kit. The album order was all agreed upon, each song had a number, meaning, and title. After deciding the order, we played the whole album back to front and reverse. At this time we had already been in contact with our studio, we just haven’t decided on the day to go yet until this night. Out of the options the manager gave us, we ended up choosing the the Friday two weeks ahead of us, we had more than enough time to get ready.
I called the studio to put the down payment on Friday, the date was set for Friday December 17th. The plan was set in motion, I’d wake up early that day, load the equipment in the truck, Rhett comes over, we pick Max up and be on our way. Now all we had to do was wait for the day to come. In the meantime, I wrote new songs, played more, and wait impatiently like a kid before his first driver's test. The day finally came, I woke up at a good time, ate some breakfast, and loaded up the equipment as planned. I never got a call that morning from either of my bandmates, so I called and woke up Rhett. Once he finally arrived we left for our guitarist’s house. Waiting outside in the blinding bright sun, smoking a couple cigarettes, we got impatient, so I went inside. To my surprise he was actually awake and ready to go, we had a small argument over doing the acoustic track and the guitars, but I wasn’t in the mood to start fighting like children over a block of Legos. Loading up his equipment in the truck, we all had one more smoke before we left.
“I hope you guys are all ready for this, the day has come.” I say as I finish my last drag.
Max replies “I’m tired as s*** with a big ass headache… I’ve never been more prepared for anything else in my life.”
“Alright then, let’s get on the road.” Rhett tells us.
On the way there, I blasted System of a Down to get us ready, we headbanged, drummed on our knees, and road raged the whole way there as if we were on a high speed chase. We arrived about 15 minutes early. The manager opened the door for us to load the equipment in the studio down the hall where our producer, Robert, would be waiting for us. We decided to wait outside for a few minutes to get all of our last minute thoughts out. They opened the back door to let us in, as we started unloading the equipment from the truck we had one last smoke to get our last minute nerves out.
I plugged my bass straight through to the desk, my drummer and I began our first song that we would record. Both him and I played along with each other while only recording the drum track, next was my turn. I have never been so nervous in my life, my hands were shaking so hard I could barely grip my guitar. I felt as if I was about to present in front of a class freshman year, I felt unprepared although I practiced for almost two years for this. I gave my producer the thumbs up, he played the previously recorded drum track and I joined in immediately. I got through the whole song and as soon as I finished I jumped up in the air yelling out of excitement.
“Dude! I don’t know how I did that!” I yelled.
My drummer then replying to me in the next room “I know man you freaking killed it.”
Next was our second song. This track would have our guitarist unlike the previous. Rhett and I got our tracks finished quickly as if in no time at all. Then Max came up to the plate, being as excited as a coke addict in a snow storm he went into the studio room. I cut the first take short, then the second, and then the third all because of tuning, it didn’t sound right to me. I had the idea to play along with Max so he could follow me, and then I lost track and messed up the song myself. I went out for a smoke as Rhett stayed in and watched him. After two takes with Rhett I came back inside asking how he did. They told me that he killed it and it was now a finished track.
By the end wehad just enough time to record one last song, our acoustic track, “Hidden” There would beno drums on this track. This helped us pick this song. . Our producer put sound blocks in front of Max’s guitar to get better sound. I sat with my bass as Max and I followed each other. Then, everyone had a problem with my sound. I tuned it up, I tuned it down, I got extremely frustrated then Rhett had the idea to play one fret lower on the melody. It worked. I have a bass solo on this song that I was extremely nervous to play. As the part came up my hands started shaking again, then, all of the sudden, leading up to the solo the headphones began to cut out. As I began the solo my headphones cut completely. I started playing my part only off of my placement on the frets, not knowing how it would sound. As soon as I finished my solo, the headphones came back on, and I finished the rest of my recording. I went in to listen to the track, it sounded amazing but to this day I still know that it could have been better.